


The Jersey Devil

by PrincessLiamer



Category: South Park
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-07-14 11:55:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7170026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessLiamer/pseuds/PrincessLiamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It might be worth mentioning, I've never played world of Warcraft, and don't know anything about World of Warcraft, and haven't even put aside the time to go see that Warcraft movie.  You'll see why i felt this needed an explanation later on.  ALso, don't speak Spanish.</p></blockquote>





	1. Part 1

It was late at night. There were but a few suburban roads left before David reached Hammonton, New Jersey, his destination. The plan upon his arrival was to meet up with some boy who was going to be his guide and partner on this trip into the Pinelands. The Pine Barrens was an immensely large stretch of woods in Southern New Jersey, spanning over a million acres. And in these woods was a legend: a cursed creature known as the Jersey Devil.  
David thought about the task before him. David didn’t think of himself as the type of person easily influenced by others, but he had let some fat bastard named Eric set him out on a journey to get definitive proof that such a creature as the Jersey Devil really existed. In the legends, the creature was a born a deformed child cursed by it’s mother, and then grew wings and flew away. That was at least the way that Eric Cartman put it, emphasizing the fact it spontaneously grew wings and flew off to nowhere. The legend of the creature have been around for about two hundred and fifty years, and there’s a lot of compiled material to work with.   
David’s expectations were low for the trip’s “ultimate purpose.” David had planned on making this trip anyway, a strange way to spend his spring break from college, hanging around in the woods of New Jersey. He had made plans with a local organization that he wanted to explore deep through the woods as part of a college credit. But, when Eric caught wind, he became testy, and started mocking David. One thing lead to another, and now, if David couldn’t find proof of the existence of the Jersey Devil by the end of his trip, he’d have to spend a month introducing himself to everyone like so, “Hello, my name is David, pronounced like that of a normal person, as in Day-vid, not Dah-veed.” And he really didn’t want to do that. David had been driving for quite a few hours. He had left way too early yesterday, for he was going to show up at the chosen location in Hammonton several hours before the allotted time, and with nowhere to spend the night. David drifted from empty road to empty road heading towards what he knew was going to be an equally empty street with what he imagined were slightly more memorable buildings. David looked at the directions he had printed out and saw that his destination was but a ways down the road he was on now. He hadn’t expected him to be going to a home address.  
David pulled up to a home, looked at the number on the piece of paper, and then looked back up at the home. He squinted his eyes at what appeared to a person out on the porch. David didn’t believe his eyes, considering it was one in the morning, but he could see the figure pacing back and forth across the porch house’s porch. The pacing silhouette saw a car pull up in front of the house, and paid it no mind at the time, continuing to pace back and forth. David looked at it and thought how strange the sight seemed to him. David had been playing music the whole ride to keep him awake, but picked up his phone and stopped it, lying his head back against the car seat, thinking he could get some sleep. But after what might’ve been ten minutes of sleep, David heard a knock at his passenger side wide.   
David woke startled to look over and see a figure now outside his window in a slight shade. A voice called to David, “Scuse me, would you happen to be David Rodriguez?”   
“Y-yeah?” David answered nervously. This situation put him on edge. His worries were put at slight ease, though, when he could see the person’s face. It was a boy, appearing to be about the same age as himself, with fair skin and curly red hair. Seeing the curls, David couldn’t help but stare. He was enthralled by the beautiful color.   
“Hi, my names Kyle. Sorry for waking you up so unexpectedly. I wasn’t expecting to see you until eight or nine.” Kyle stared in at him, trying to make less visible the fact he was looking David up and down.  
“Oh, sorry. I guess I got impatient and left… several hours earlier than I needed to.” David looked at the wheel of his car and thought about the decisions that had set this decision into motion.   
Kyle looked at David staring existentially at his steering wheel, and offered sympathy, “Hey, don’t worry. I don’t know if you noticed but I’m not exactly the calmest either, if you saw me pacing on the porch when you drove up?” David could have guessed that it was him. “But you don’t have to spend your time waiting around out here if you don’t want.”  
“Oh, no, I don’t want to be a problem,”  
“Oh no, it’s no problem at all. We’re gonna be spending a week together, anyway. Might do us good to spend a night in civilization.”  
David paused to think about what he just said, “Did you say a week?”  
“Uhh, yeah. Since I’m your guide for your trip into the Pinelands?” David was too tired to have taken the dialogue queues and realize this on his own.  
“Right… Sorry.” David’s face grew slightly more red. Kyle let him come up to the home behind them. David left everything he had brought with him in the car, of which there was much. Being let into the dark house, David looked around, investigating the house. It looked fancy to him from what he could see. He asked, “So, is this some sort of affiliate building for the pinelands guide agency?”  
“Actually, this is just my parents’ house. I hope you don’t mind having to spend the night here. I’m spending my vacation house sitting. Except for this week. In which there will be no one watching this house. And I probably should have gotten someone to watch it for me.” David heard Kyle whisper fuck under his breath and giggled to himself.   
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. I-uhh. I really am sorry that I showed up so late, I was just too nervous to wait around. Err… maybe nervous wasn’t the feeling.” David studied the home with his eyes before looking at Kyle, who stared at him. They held each other’s gaze for a while, smiling at each other. Kyle suddenly looked away.  
Moving for the staircase, Kyle gestured his hand behind him to David, “hey, so, uhh, why don’t I get you in bed,” Kyle didn’t look back as to avoid David seeing how he was embarrassed by his lack of fluency with words. “I mean, show you where you can sleep.” David followed him to the stairs. Following after Kyle up, his eyes became fixed at Kyle’s lower half. Kyle turned back ,”You can sleep in my room tonight.” David saw him turning and quickly looked away.  
“Thank you, that’s very generous of you,” David responded, quickly looking away.  
Kyle opened the door to his room And let David in. “Alright, this is it,” Kyle told him. It was incredibly bare boned. David thought Kyle must be a college student, too, and left all his stuff at his dorm. What was there that was of particular note was a large Television on a wardrobe with a gamecube attached to it, three posters, the Cure Disintegration album cover, a Rush 2112 Poster, and a poster of world war two propaganda, “Destroy the mad brute!” There was also an old desktop computer set up in the corner. David moved towards the old computer. “What do you think?”  
“It’s nice,” He said, looking down at the table. “Could do with some decoration, is this the computer you use?” David pointed at the computer very curiously.   
“That old beat up piece? No, it’s way too old, I’ve had it since, like, 2008. I use it for playing World of Warcraft.”   
“Wait, really?” David looked at him, almost shocked. David was amazed he’d met another warcraft player. He hadn’t seen one in a year, discluding Blizzcon. He had grown so used to being insulted for still playing.  
“Oh, yeah. I’ve been playing since ‘08. Back then, all my friends played with me. Now, It’s just me around here. Everyone tells me to just move on. I guess I kind of have, since I only play it on that old computer, which stays here, and I haven’t played in a couple months, but I could pick it up at any time and just jump back in.”   
“Wow. Awesome.”  
“What?”  
“Nothing.” David moved away from the computer, “So, where are you gonna sleep?”   
“Oh, I’ll just sleep in my parent’s bed. Or possibly not sleep at all. It’s already, like, 2 AM.”  
“Right, see you in the morning.” David said, staring down at Kyle. They smiled politely at each other, expecting the other to walk away. The politeness melted into a pleasant appreciation of the others pretty face. Kyle realized what he was doing and quickly moved away. “Goodnight, see you in the morning!” He said, walking down the hall. David Watched him go, before realizing what he was doing, and quickly moving back into the room and closing the door. The two of them went to bed, and laid awake thinking about the other for a while. Eventually, they both fell asleep.   
David woke up and looked at his watch. It wasn’t the morning he had gotten three hours of sleep, and the sun was still down. He stumbled up and out of bed, but instead of supporting his weight with his legs, he collapsed back on the bed. He looked down at himself for a moment. After Kyle left, David had taken off his shirt and pants. He reflected on when he had done this, too drowsy to remember, but just briefly closed his eyes to fall back asleep. It was another two hours later when Kyle walked in to get him up and see him lying half on the bed, legs outstretched, in just his underwear. Kyle felt himself grow red in the face at the sight, and let out a small cough. “S-scuse me, David,” he said in a sheepish voice. He turned away from him, and said in a loud, cracking voice, “Wake up, David!”   
David raised said up groggily and looked up to see Kyle. He stood up and realized how underdressed he was. He suddenly reached back for the blankets on the bed to cover up some of himself. “God, I’m sorry, It’s just, those clothes smell terrible, I-I was sweating in them for, for hours before I got here, and I just, I-I just didn’t want to deal with it while I slept.”  
“No, no, it’s fine,” Kyle grew redder to think about it. “Why don’t I take keys and go get you some clothes out of your car so you don’t have to put those back on?”   
“Yeah, yeah, sure.” David put the blanket down, and went through his pant pockets to find the keys. “Catch,” He said, and tossed the keys to kyle who turned around quickly. He caught them out of the air, and then saw David again, before running out of the room. Once he was gone David starting scrambling, “Aww, Cabron,” he said hitting his own head with his hand.  
Kyle ran down to David’s car to get out clothes David could use instead of his dirty ones. Quickly pulling out a bag and unzipping it to see a sufficient clothing, Kyle took the moment to calm himself, and calmly walked back inside with the bag. Heading back to his room, Kyle took another deep breath, and went in, “Saying okay here you go.” Kyle saw David had tried to cover himself using one of his shirts. On him, the shirt looked like it was about to burst. David’s body was much bigger and much more muscular than Kyle’s, and the shirt didn’t appear to stand a chance against him.   
“S-sorry, I just, I didn’t know what else to use, I should have just put back on what I had on last night! I was just trying to get it off!”  
“Don’t!” Kyle yelled. He lowered his head and handed him the bag, “These are yours.” He backed away, trying not to look, and put David’s keys on the ground. I’m… I’m gonna go make breakfast. You just. There’s a shower down the hall. I’ll see you when you’re ready.” Kyle walked out. David stood there for a while, unable to move, holding his bag.


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It might be worth mentioning, I've never played world of Warcraft, and don't know anything about World of Warcraft, and haven't even put aside the time to go see that Warcraft movie. You'll see why i felt this needed an explanation later on. ALso, don't speak Spanish.

David walked looked out over the cliff side at the vast forest, which stretched into the horizon. The Pine Barrens were so incredibly large, it was hard imagining how far they stretched. It had been over two hours since David and Kyle had departed from the depot. David had to have a general orientation and talk about ethics. He was told he couldn’t hunt on the section of the forest labeled a preservation, and in the regular you couldn’t forest off season or without a license, to which he told the park ranger he had no desire to hunt animals, and the ranger laughed at him. When leaving, Kyle said that happened to him too when he said he didn’t want to kill animals.   
As for Kyle, him and David hadn’t talked casually since this morning. The two of them were too embarrassed to talk about it. They had decided upon not mentioning it all together, but since neither could forget it, almost every conversation had something to do directly with they were observing. David had gotten quite a few good shots of various flora and fauna, with Kyle’s help, of course.   
Kyle walked up behind David to look out upon the Barrens. “Yeah, this is one of my favorite stops early on,” He said, commenting on the beautiful view. “I’ve gone out like this, I’d say, a dozen times, and I always see new things to impress.” He looked up at David’s smiling face appreciating the beauty, before he turned to Kyle. They shared a glance briefly before either realized it, and then both had their smiles wiped away, and returned to the expanse. “Moving on.”  
Kyle moved back from the ledge, while David raised his camera to capture the view before moving on. The two of them made their way down the ledge, back to flatter ground. There were plenty of trails leading through the woods, but Kyle was there because he could give better guidance off of the trails. In the Pinelands there were many different sections, but David and Kyle found themselves on a preserve to many of the endangered species that made their home inside the Barrens. This section had very few man made paths. Kyle looked out in front of him, then pulled out a map of the area and a compass. “Alright, so, this should give us a good hike through some thicker sections.”  
David stumbled up behind Kyle. “Looks good.” Kyle nodded without looking back at him. He continued to move on, while David looked at him go and thought he should say something to lighten the mood. “Hey, Kyle,” he called out, running up to him but unfortunately tripping over a thick root of a tree and falling over. Lying on the ground motionless, David considered why he should be putting himself through this right now. He needed to get these pictures for a class. Or maybe, not need, but he had decided it could only help him to go take pictures of these endangered creatures instead of spending time inside doing nothing over his spring break, just like he would in high school.   
“Are you okay, David?” Kyle helped David get back up to his knees. David looked up at him standing over him.  
“Y-yeah. I’m fine. Just wasn’t paying attention.” David got to his feet .  
“Okay. I want you to be careful. I don’t want to see you getting hurt.” David smiled at that. Kyle smiled back at him, before looking away bashfully. But as David looked at Kyle’s face, he saw fear come over it. Kyle pointed behind David, “What is that?”  
David turned around curious to see what looked like a large dog slinking off in the distance. David ducked down to the ground suddenly, and Kyle followed him crawling to be by his side, and putting a hand on his arm. David looked at the creature, and said, “It looks like it might be a wolf, kind of. A big ass wolf.” David raised his Kodak to his face, turning it on and looking at the screen, zooming in on the animal.  
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Kyle explained. “Wolves were hunted to death in these woods.”  
“What else could it be? Just look at it’s body,” David showed Kyle the image zoomed in on the silhouette. Kyle put a hand on it, but accidentally hit the button, and an audible shot was taken of the figure. Suddenly, it turned to face the two of the, crouching into a defensive state, before from it’s back sprung two large and majestic wings. And just as it had appeared to them, with a single flutter of it’s powerful wings, the creature disappeared off the screen. The two looked back to where it was, and nothing was there. “Hory shit.”  
The two got to their feet, looking to where they had just seen some animal go from ground to air in an instant. David was in shock. “El infierno- The hell was that?”  
“I-I don’t know. I’ve never seen something like it before.” Kyle said, baffled. David looked down at his camera and went into his gallery, where, at the end of a bunch of birds, herbivores, and the occasional Kyle, was the image Kyle had accidentally taken of a beast cast in shadow. David looked at the picture and thought, Fuck yeah, Cartman. Get ready to- wait, did we set up a punishment for if I actually got a picture of the jersey devil? Mierda! El puto culo!  
The two of them decided to logically move in a direction opposite the direction they presumed that mysterious creature had moved in. The day progressed as normal. David managed to capture numerous photos of the Pinelands wildlife, along with some of the other sights there were to see. The sun would set soon. Kyle looked at it going down in the east, and stated, “Do you want to keep searching through the night?”  
“No, I’m way too tired after… last night.” David said, thinking about it.  
“Right. We should make camp soon. It’s dangerous in the woods at night. I’ll set up the tent.” Kyle pulled his bag off of his back and started to unhook a tent the two of them would be sharing.  
David stared before he thought to take initiative, “Oh, I’ll go get firewood.”  
“Right, thanks.”  
David ran off, and Kyle everything out in front of him. As David began to search through the nearby underbrush for sticks, he talked to himself about the issue of speaking freely with Kyle. “I should just apologize to him. About what happened. He just looked so shocked over it all. What if he really liked that shirt? You could hear the seam stretching! Awwe…” He saw many small branches having fallen off of a single tree scattered about it’s base and started to pick them up. “He did look really cute, though. His face all red. He was so red, it matched his hair.” The image of Kyle’s large curls filled David’s head. He was brought to stop for a moment, then continued to pick up those around the tree, he then looked up the tree, saw it’s poor condition, and put the sticks in a pile. He went to it’s base and pulled hard at it, which made it creak and bend, and he then climbed it.  
Kyle was doing well at setting up the tent, almost done. He, too, reevaluated the morning in his privacy. “Okay, so maybe I creeped him out this morning with all my staring. I should at least explain myself. I shouldn’t just leave it like this, or else he’ll just think I’m a weirdo. And I don’t need more cute boys thinking I’m a weirdo in my life right now. Or in general… I mean, when am I gonna need that? June eleventh, but other than that, I’m gonna want my schedule clear.” Kyle laughed at his joke. David was coming back Kyle looked and he had a bunch of twigs in one arm and a fallen tree in the other. Kyle asked, “Hey, where’d you get that?”  
“Found it,” David said jokingly. “I’ve got an axe in my bag.” While David cut the tree, Kyle cleared a fire pit. Kyle took the sticks and made a tent formation with them, setting it afire. The two of them pulled up their bags alongside it and sat down relatively far apart. David looked at the roaring fire. It was now the only light, with the sun having set. He glanced over at Kyle. He stared at his pretty face, which looked relaxed looking at the fire. He thought about saying something. Nut when Kyle looked over, he quickly looked back at the fire. Kyle pulled his knees to his chest his arms and pushed his face against them. David stood up. “I think I’m gonna go put my sleeping bag in the tent.” He pulled it off his bag. Kyle stood up, too.  
“Yeah, right,” Kyle walked over to the tent and opened the flap for him. David walked in and Kyle followed him. The thought came over his mind, wait, why did I follow him, but he was already in the tent, so he sat and watched David unfurl his sleeping bag across the ground. David sat down . Kyle zip up the tent without thinking and sat down looking at David. “So.”  
David looked back at him. “So?”  
“Uhh, nothing.” the two of them made awkward eye contact. Kyle thought he might go back out when there was a loud noise outside the tent. Upon hearing it, Kyle asked, “What the hell was that?”  
“I don’t know,” answered David. They looked in the direction they’d heard the sound coming from, when from the left of the tent a shadow began to form across the tent. It began with the head, long, dog like, low to the ground, and then a paw or foot came up and pulled forward the bulky body of the creature into view. The last piece of the beast was the whipping tail that pushed against the side of the tent. Seeing the impression the tail made pressing against the tent’s side sent David and Kyle heading towards the other side of it. The creature turned either to or away from the tent, and suddenly unleashed a hidden wingspan longer than that of the tent, and raised its front like a horse's, let out a wolf’s howl, and crushed down on the fire, extinguishing it, and eliminating the shadow in the darkness of the night.   
Kyle and David were pressed against the side of the tent, their hearts racing at the sight of the animal. David leaned over to Kyle and whispered into his ear, “What the hell is outside of our tent!?”  
Kyle whispered back, “I have no fucking idea. I’ve never seen something that looked remotely like that in these woods before.”  
David remembered what had happened earlier that day, “Wait. Yes, we have.” He raised the camera strapped to his neck up and turned it on. He entered his gallery, angled it away from Kyle as he searched through the days pictures until he found the one he was looking for, and showed Kyle the shadowy figure they had seen before. “It’s the same same monster we had seen out in the woods earlier.”  
“Has it been following us?”Kyle asked, trying to get a better look at the camera.  
“I wouldn’t be able to tell you, I hadn’t seen it since.” Kyle started to go through some of the other pictures, until he reached one of himself. He cocked his head sideways at it before David saw it and got a sudden sweat on his brow, and pulled the camera back. “Sorry. Just was… getting pictures of the forest, and managed to capture you.”  
Kyle looked at him quizzically, said, “R-right” unconfidently, and didn’t question it further. “So, what now?”  
“It hasn’t noticed us, yet. We should stay quiet.” The two of them ceased their hushed conversation and listened for some sign of the beast. It sounded generally quiet outside, before they heard a sound of something outside breathing heavily like a bear.  
“I have a radio in my bag we could use to contact help,” Kyle suggested.  
“Right. Where is your bag?”  
Kyle thought about it, looked around the tent, and turned back to David with the sad realization, “The same place as yours. Next to the fire pit.”  
“Shit.” They grew silent again and listened for the sound of the thing outside their tent’s breathing. “I guess we should just wait in here until that thing leaves.”  
The two of them stopped talking and sat in silence listening to the creature outside their tent. Time seemed to pass slowly. After a while, they heard the ground rustle and what they assumed was the creature standing. They raised an ear each as it began to move, but to their dismay, it simply began circling the tent. This could have been a sign to them that it knew they were inside. David began to think of this as what might be his last night alive. There was an unknown large creature, one both Kyle and David knew not to be any of the animals regularly documented to inhabit these woods, at their doorstep, ready to attack them. He figured, now might be a good time to make peace with some problems. He looked at Kyle, who was curled up next to him, leaned closer to him, and whispered, “Hey Kyle?”  
Kyle looked over at him without raising his head from his legs. “What is it?”  
“I…” David sat criss cross with his hands intertwined in his lap. He looked down at them. “I wanted to… apologize. About what happened this morning.”  
David looked up without raising his head to see Kyle look away from him. He felt his heart sink a little, before Kyle raised his head to look at him, “You’re apologizing?”  
“Well, yeah. I’m sorry, I was really nervous, I didn’t want you to feel weirded out by… my body, I guess. I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable, which you really did look it, so I decided to put on one of your shirts. I’m sorry about that.” Kyle looked at him with confusion while he spoke, and when he realized he had said his whole piece about, put his head back to his knees. David felt disappointed in himself before he heard Kyle chuckling. “Kyle?”  
“”I’m sorry. I mean, I’m actually sorry. I was going to apologize to you for being so weird this morning. I felt so weirded out about how I had acted, and I thought you were probably feeling the same about me.”  
“What, why would I feel that way about you?”  
“Ohh, I’m just so awkward around cute guys, I shouldn’t be, but I’ve just become so socially inept, or more so always was-”  
David was listening to Kyle explain himself before he came to a realization, “Wait ,Kyle, are you gay?”  
“Hmm?” Kyle looked back at him with more confusion. “Well, I mean yeah isn’t it obvious?”  
“No, not really. If I knew you were gay… well, I would have,,, Actually, thinking about it, I think things would have gone about the same. It has been a while.” David stared down at his hands, fiddling his thumbs and smiling, thinking about the last time he was with another guy, which wasn’t a good time, but brought him to smile nonetheless. The two of them briefly grew silent. Kyle stared at David until he noticed and looked back at him. “Hey,” he said, unsure of what he should say.  
“David.” Kyle paused. “Are you gay?”  
“Yeah.”  
Kyle and David stared into each other’s eyes, suddenly having a level of understanding of one another. Kyle broke the eye contact, turning away and smiling wide to himself. David smiled as well. They sat in the silence of the tent, until a loud howl broke their silence. It was the horrible creature that held them captive, Howling like a feral wolf, it’s voice full of rage. It scared them into silence, in which they remained for a solid half hour, which they spent listening for the creature. David looked at a watch on his wrist. It read about 8:45. He turned to Kyle, who was at the other edge of the tent with an ear to the wall. “So,” he said, pretending this was a casual situation, “You’re gay?”  
Kyle turned back to him. “Y-yeah.”   
“Sorry, I’m bad at sounding talking… casually.” He explained, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.  
“It’s alright. I wasn’t expecting a casual conversation.”  
“Thought it might… lighten the mood. Keep our minds occupied.”  
“Right.” Kyle thought about questions he might want to have answered. Well, what’s it like where you go to college? Or, where do you go, I can’t remember.”  
“It’s nice. I go to Virginia Tech, in..Virginia. Hm, self explanatory. Anyway, I’m studying to become an engineer there.”  
“Wait, you’re studying to become an engineer, what class are you taking all these pictures of wildlife in the pinelands for?”  
“Oh, uhh… a zoology class. I wanted to get my grade up in it, so I took this as an extra credit assignment.   
“Oh. Well, that’s kind of… cool I guess.” David heard a tone in Kyle’s voice, either confusion or disappointment, and thought about how warranted it was.  
“You’re a freshman, too, right? Do you go to college locally?”  
“Yeah. I’m studying to be a lawyer, like my dad. Except…”  
David became curious, “Except?”  
“No, it’s nothing.”  
“Dude, there’s no point in keeping anything hidden.”  
“No, no I don’t want to get into it.” David saw Kyle head lower in shame. His heart went out to what Kyle must have been feeling, whatever he wasn’t saying.  
“Let’s talk about something else.”  
“Like what?”  
“Something light hearted that you probably haven’t had someone to talk to about in a while.”  
“And what might that be?” Kyle asked, not looking up.  
“Warcraft.” At the word, Kyle raised his head to see David smiling at him. What followed was an hour long, incredibly casual conversation about the many fineries and complex aspect of the World of Warcraft. Details ranging from an opening of how each of them had generally been introduced to the game, before switching up to a general summary of the multigame spanning and often expanding lore of the in depth world created by BLizzard. At some point, they delved from the topic of overall worldbuilding lore into the topics dealt with in the games, and what their experiences had been playing on the opposite factions, Kyle being a Stormwind and David playing for the Horde. The two of them were able to break down an awkward sense of difference by sharing so many stories and fun experiences they could relate to one another over.  
By the time it was 10:30, the two of them had grown to like each other quite a bit. But then, there was a lull in the conversation. The two of them were sharing in a quiet laugh when a thought crossed David’s mind. “H-hey, Kyle?”  
“Yeah, man?”  
“I...I was wondering. How many guys have you been with?”  
“Oh.” Kyle was surprised. He looked up at David. Then, he turned his head down. “Well… I’ve never actually been with a guy before. Never had a boyfriend.”   
David saw him feeling despair from remembering. “Where I grew up, I was the only gay guy in my school. And now, I’m in college, and still have yet to have a boyfriend,” he said, and chuckled about it lightly.  
“Yeah… Well, where I grew up there was one. One guy. Except maybe he wasn’t. He just… liked to make me think he was… and drag me along.” Kyle looked up to the sky. David felt a curiosity build. But he didn’t want to make Kyle uncomfortable.  
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want.”  
“Thanks… I think I’m good. His name was Stan. He used to be my best friend. He was one of the few people I had with me my whole life. I actually did love him. Like a brother. But then, when we reached middle school, he started drinking. And then, when I came out of the closet to him, when he was drunk, he would sometimes come over and we would do things. Kiss, touch. It got pretty personal after a while. We never had sex, but we did go far. But that ended by the time we entered high school. He started dating this girl, Wendy, and then wouldn’t acknowledge me, or the relationship I thought we had. I couldn’t be his friend after that. Not anymore.”   
David sat and listened, acknowledging the pain Kyle must’ve felt, “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”  
“Yeah. He and Wendy didn’t last. In our junior year, he came like he used to, totally shit faced, and said he wanted to give us a try again. I didn’t want to be used again, and I told him that. He called me a asshole. And a f…” Kyle got choked up at the word.  
“It’s okay, you don’t have to say it. I know the word well. People have used that word against me, too. My whole life. I got someone who’s constantly using it along with racial slurs against me all the time.”  
“Yeah… It wasn’t the first time the word was used against me either, but to be called something so offensive by someone who was once my best friend.” David moved to the back of the tent , where he picked up the sleeping bag he’d laid out when they first entered, unzipped it to function as a blanket, and wrapped it around Kyle.  
“It’s alright. You’re okay. Everything’s going to be fine.” David gave Kyle a comforting hug. They sat in silence until the rustling of leaves under the moster’s footsteps could be heard. Kyle giggled, “Yeah, fine. As long as that thing continues to ignore us.”  
“Yeah.” David giggled lightly as well. The two of them laughed about the potential danger of their situation. As they laughed, through the material of the tent, a foot was shoved. The two grew quiet and turned to face the foot that had forced itself into their safe haven. It looked like that of a horses, with a hoof and all. Carefully and slowly, the foot removed itself back out of the tent. As it exited Kyle and David turned to face each other, their eyes dilating. The moved themselves to the opposite side of the tent quickly. They stared at the hole from across the small, compact room with fear, knowing no matter where in the tent they tried to move to, that beast could easily reach them. It grew later as the two sat in silence. They shared David’s sleeping bag, holding each other close. David looked again at his watch. It was now past 11:00, and The two of them were now more scared than ever for their safety. They couldn’t think to talk and calm their nerves anymore. But not too much later, David was filled with a desire to look out the hole. He needed to see what the creature was clearly with his own eyes. He didn’t act on the emotion. At first.  
David picked his camera back up from around his neck, and took a look at the gallery, and the unclear figure they had captured earlier. He thought it would be enough to convince Cartman he had seen at least something. And hell, this had been more than he ever expected to get out of this experience. He needed a better picture. He could actually stick it good to Eric. David took his arms off of Kyle, who immediately asked, “What are you doing?” in an urgent, hushed tone. But David just gestured back towards him to quiet down and wait. He slid across the ground over to the large peephole and spied out of it to the woods. At first, he saw their bags around the fireplace, undamaged in the night. But there was no wild animal in view. The area was well lit by the moon for him to be able to see something moving in the night. He looked to the left and right, until at the far left, he saw the creature out of the holes corner. He could see it shine in the moon. It looked almost ridiculous. No fur, no feathers. Just burnt looking skin. Yet it’s wings were spread wide. There was no way the thing could use them to actually become airborne.  
David raised his camera’s lens through the hole and tried to point it at it. But on the screen, David saw the creature turn and face what he was certain was the camera exactly. He could see the creature staring at him, and it made his heart pound heavily. Suddenly, it folded in it’s wingspan and moved back out of view. David turned his camera off and moved back over to Kyle, who looked at his fearful face and grew scared himself. “What happened?” Kyle asked  
“I saw it. And it saw me.” Kyle became wide eyed. He shared in the fear David felt. But as they sat there, suddenly their tent collapsed on top of them, and a loud crying could be heard above them. The two of them collapsed to the ground, where they laid in silence, as all around them the beast stamped down on the tent, crushing it into the ground. It happened at their left and their right. Holes were punched in the tent, and moonlight would stream in through them. They laid, holding each other tightly, for the entire duration of this aggressive act happening above them.   
It lasted about twenty minutes before the thing stopped. It panted heavily when it was done, standing on top of the wreckage. Finally, it moved off from above them. As they lay there, their faces pressed upon by the former roof, David grieved over this whole experience. “I hate zoology.” Kyle looked at him. “I-I hate college in general. It’s terrible. I didn’t WANT to do this. I’d rather be doing anything else. My grades are all fine, even Zoology, and there’s literally no reason for me to be taking zoology, anyway, but THIS!? This was stupid. This was a crazily stupid waste of my time, and now it’s going to kill me. I spend a year in college, do nothing but study, and now, I’m gonnan die being attacked by a mythical creature. I should have gone to a concert, or to clubs, or any shit other than spend a week in the woods of New Jersey.” He looked down at Kyle, “Nothing against New Jersey.”  
“No, it’s fine,” Kyle assured him. “This is. I never had fun doing this, but it is incredibly stupid that my life is going to end because of it, now. It’s strange to look at imperative death and describe it as stupid, but when it’s at the hands of Region Specific Fairytale creatures, stupid seems like the proper word. Why am I doing this job? It’s literally the fucking worst thing. Ever. This has nothing to do with what I want to do. In fact, being a lawyer doesn’t have to do with what I want to do!”  
“Do you not want to be a lawyer?”  
“Who the fuck wants to be a lawyer?! Lawyers don’t wake up and say ‘livin’ the dream.’ They wake up and say, ‘makin’ the money.’ I don’t want a job just because of the paycheck. No, that’s not why I started studying to become a lawyer. It was because of my stupid dad. I needed something for him to be proud of.”  
“Yeah. I’ve got to be the one to make something out of himself and get out of the family business. And so, Engineer.”  
“Right. And so, you never have time for anything else, because you constantly have to be studying and keeping your grades up.”  
“Exactly.” David closed his eyes and pressed his head into Kyle’s red curls.  
Time moved by. Ten minutes later, Kyle let out a sigh. “If we get out of this, I’m quitting this job.”  
“Yeah, that seems like the logical step.”  
“I mean, why the fuck would I ever come back here?”  
“Yeah I don’t want you getting attacked again.” Kyle smiled at him saying that. He closed his eyes and held them shut. “You know, I liked the Jersey Devil from that one X files episode way better.”  
This confused Kyle, “What?”  
“Hmm? Oh, there was once an episode of the X Files, really early, that was about the Jersey Devil.”  
“Oh. I never watched the X Files.”  
“Yeah, I didn’t really either. Except for, like, half of season 1. And in that first half of the first season, there was an episode about the jersey devil. I remember there was one really funny joke.”  
“What was it?”  
David’s eyes grew heavy, too. “Okay, so, there’s agent Mulder and agent Scully. They work for, like the FBI. And they’re investigating a murder in New Jersey with no suspects or some shit, I can’t remember. Scully is the guy, I think, and he believes in all paranormal things, and he thinks that the jersey devil is real, and attacking this small town. And he’s talking to a homeless guy, and because Scully’s gonna be out all night, he gives the homeless guy his hotel room key, and the homeless guy’s says, ‘They got HBO?’”  
David waited for a reaction. He felt Kyle’s head shift upwards, and opened his eyes to look at Kyle, who asked, “Was that the joke?”  
“Y-Yeah?”  
Kyle tried to suppress a smile and pressed his face against David’s chest. “Sorry. No, it’s funny, yeah.” Kyle giggled lightly.  
“Shut up, I liked the joke. It added a light hearted element to the scene.” The two of them laughed quietly together before wrapping each other in their arms, and holding each other close. They drifted off to sleep.  
David woke up at 5:00 AM. He looked down to see Kyle pressed against him, which made him smile. Then, he remembered the situation they had found themselves in. THe tarp on top of them felt heavy with dew. David listened for any signs of life outside of their tent. WHen he could, he jostled Kyle till he woke up, “Kyle. Kyle.”  
Kyle awoke, looked up David, and smiled. David smiled back. Then, Kyle remembered what had been waiting outside for them. “Is it safe?”  
“I have no idea. I’m gonna go out and check.”  
“What? No, don’t. If it’s still there, it’ll probably attack you on sight.”  
“I… I’ve gotta check. I’ll let you know if it’s safe.” David let go of Kyle. and sidled towards where the zipper had been, before he saw a hole ripped in the side that was bigger than him. He first poked his head out and took a look in the general area. He didn’t see anything. He slid out of the hole, crawled to a nearby tree, and hid behind it, before looking around their campsite, and determining it was empty. He looked to where the bonfire was and saw their bags perfectly intact. Staying low, he moved back over to them, and picked his and Kyle’s up. Finally, he stood, and took a big sweeping look over the area. He called out to Kyle softly, “I don’t see anything.”  
Kyle popped out of the tent, and looked over to David , who held up his bag for him to see. Kyle ran over, giving a sigh of relief, and saying, “Oh, sweet fuck. I’ve never been so relieved.” Kyle took up his bag, brushing the morning dew off, and opened it up and pulled out a radio and a map, with which he used to contact help. David took a seat by the ashes and half burnt up logs of the fireplace. After Kyle finished, he went and joined him. “Okay, so we’re here,” he pointed to a dot he’d drawn on the map in the center of green. “And we can walk to here,” He dragged his finger to a nearby town, “And that’ll take us two hours. And from there, people will pick us up and take us back to the depot. Where I can quit my job, and we can then go back to my place for the week we were supposed to spend in the woods.”  
“Sounds great, except, why can’t they come get us here?”   
“Because they’re shitty at their jobs.”  
“Right, kay. So, we have a two hour hike?”  
“Yup.”  
“Alright. Let’s go.” David stood and helped Kyle get to his feet.  
After a two hour hike, Kyle and David made it to a small town in the woods where a man was waiting to pick them up. And drive them back. He asked what happened and why they were leaving so soon, and David said they were attacked by a bear, to which Kyle agreed. They had spent time during their two hour hike figuring out a proper explanation that didn’t involve a mythical creature. When the two of them arrived back at the station Kyle went to quit his job and collect his things, and then took off with David. The next two weeks David spent in New Jersey with Kyle. One day they headed for the shore, another they went out for a fancy dinner, but a lot of the time they spent at Kyle’s house, doing things like playing world of warcraft, and sharing in a relationship they had started. Kyle’s parents returned to be surprised when Kyle introduced David as his boyfriend, who’d be staying with them over break. Kyle and his dad fought over it, while his mom tried to get a better understanding of the situation. They became more concerned when Kyle told them he wasn’t sure if he being a lawyer was what he wanted out of his life. He didn’t know what he wanted yet, but he knew what he was studying in college wasn’t it. By the time break was over, Kyle’s mother at least understood, and gave full support of both them and Kyle’s changing majors.   
David eventually had to leave, and couldn’t help but feel sad to go. THe two promised to meet up as much as possible, stay in contact, and spend the summer together.


End file.
